Is sex a spiritual thing?

Many of us are inclined to rebel when someone tells us what to do. We do not always take kindly to being told what is right and wrong behaviour. However, ethical living is part of spiritual healing according to the world’s spiritual traditions. That following a set of rules of conduct is conducive to spiritual growth. How does this apply to sexual relationships?

People may not be concerned about the rights and wrongs of sexual behaviour. They ask:

“Isn’t sex a basic drive that needs to be satisfied, just like hunger and thirst?”
“Isn’t sexual expression one of our inherent freedoms?”
“Isn’t sexuality a way of expressing our unique individuality?”

To answer “yes” to these questions may be correct for some but it is to miss a spiritual principle, for it ignores the idea of a growing union of mature love between two people. There are many reasons for coldness developing between a couple but one of the most damaging tends to be the sense of hurt and distrust in one partner caused by the other becoming sexually drawn to another person.

The Zombie Survival Guide

by Max Brooks Published by Duckworth 2009 ISBN 978 0 7156 5318 2

Are you alive and kicking? Not so sure? Perhaps you feel your own level of vitality, vim, and vigour are at a low ebb. If so The Zombie Survival Guide may be for you. It is a self-help book with a difference. It purports to protect the reader from entities called zombies. These fantasy creatures have became popular in modern horror fiction since the success of the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. They are portrayed as lifeless, sterile and apathetic, supposedly roaming around with a shambling awkward limp, and experiencing little or no physical sensation or emotion. The popular myth is that they are either re-animated human corpses or human beings controlled by someone else by magic. In either case they are said to be devoid of life of their own, and so assumed to be wanting to suck the life-blood from those who get into their clutches. If they get hold of you the book suggests this would be a living death and it aims to give practical advice about how to avoid this peril.

Yes, it all sounds rather macabre but I do wonder if this is a potent symbol for our times.

Two Art Events

SATURDAY 23RD OCTOBER The Swedenborg Society will proudly participate in THE BLOOMSBURY FESTIVAL 2010. We will present two art events: an EXHIBITION PREVIEW of 21 Grams, an installation by Paul Tecklenberg; and an ART/THEATRE/DANCE PERFORMANCE from Nissa Nishikawa, our current artist in residence. We will be open 5 pm to 9 pm. Refreshments will be served. … Continue reading Two Art Events

Blessings of the Dark Season

Spiritual Workshop Saturday 27th November 10am – 4pm   Blessings of the Dark Season   Venue: Greenhill New Church Centre 177 Leicester Road  New Barnet,  Herts. EN5 5EB All spiritual seekers welcome. Do bring a friend. Silke Alima Stoeckel Silke Alima Stoeckel is a biologist, a therapist, a healing practitioner for psychotherapy and an active participant in the … Continue reading Blessings of the Dark Season

Usefulness: Discussion Weekend

Friday 18 February 2011 – 19:00 to Sunday 20 February 2011 – 15:30 Purley Chase Centre Living in the moment is to be truly alive. This state of mind comes not from pursuing our own agendas but rather from feeling we are playing our small part in the greater scheme of things. Paradoxically the more we … Continue reading Usefulness: Discussion Weekend

Two to Tango Weekend

 Friday 12 November  2010 – 16:00  to Sunday 14 November 2010 – 15:30 Purley Chase Centre  The Patriarchs and their wives give us clues as to how to identify with our genders at various levels in order to make powerfully connected marriages. We shall also explore how the same concept is reflected in all religions for example in … Continue reading Two to Tango Weekend

Alone in Berlin – Book Review

Alone in Berlin

by Hans Fallada (Translated by Michael Hofmann) Penguin Modern Classics.

The author of this absorbing novel has created a story about a decent character, Otto Quangel, who with his wife lives in Berlin during the second-world war. Working in a factory and living amongst a people whose private misgivings and criticisms of their political leaders are silenced by fear, Otto, also has a daily horror of the possibility of being reported to the authorities for having a wrong political attitude or for having committed some minor misdeed against the state. Such accusations could well result in arrest and torture or even a death camp. Yet he is prepared to communicate his criticism of the government’s oppression and unjust social policies as well as their military conquests abroad. For the regime in seizing absolute power, have destroyed any vestiges of democracy.

I wonder how we would react in similar circumstances? Thank goodness I do not have to face such a test. But many people in the world today who live under dictatorship have to find some way of accommodating themselves to corruption in their society while maintaining their self-respect.